Trip to the UK

I recently returned from an excellent trip across the pond. I made sure to take copious amounts of notes, so that I could write up all my experiences upon my return. So many notes, in fact, that I have to split my vacation into two posts. The first will be this one, the story of my travel and experiences in London and Wales. The second post will be all about the convention I went to with my friends. So without further ado, my trip to the UK.

I left Phoenix on Wednesday, May 4th, a big day for Star Wars fans(May the 4th Be With You). Flying from Phoenix to Philadelphia, where I would have a layover before flying to Dublin for yet another layover before finally arriving in London's Heathrow airport. I had an interesting experience right off the bat, with the flight from Phoenix to Philadelphia. The plane taxied out to the runway, we take off, and just as we get into the air the left engine makes this weird sound. I happened to be seated in the row right next to the engine, in the middle seat, with an elderly woman beside me at the window. I hadn't quite heard an engine sound like that before, it was a bit disconcerting. The elderly woman and I exchange looks, we were clearly thinking the same thing: Is that normal? We looked around and no one else seemed alarmed, the Captain did not come on to announce anything. The elderly woman and I exchanged a second look, she pretended to bite her nails and I replied with another nervous smile. We climbed further into the air and the sound seemed to lessen, or we has just gotten used to it. But that was the loudest and most awkward damn engine I have ever heard.

Then there was the experience of flying through a sea of clouds. I'd flown through clouds before, but never like this. It was upon our descent into Philadelphia. There was no land to be seen through the clouds, nothing but various white fluff. It gave the illusion of sailing on them rather than flying through them. We finally began to dip into the clouds, but they are so thick, it takes a good 10 minutes to get through and below them. You couldn't see anything once the plane sunk into them, thick like fog. It was as though the plane was wrapped in a white blanket. We finally landed and taxied up to the gate. I then made quite a long journey from one end of the terminal to the other, making it to my gate as my plane was already boarding. I didn't of course realize this until they made an announcement asking the group after me to board the plane. I gave up on the idea of grabbing food and boarded the plane.

I had a window seat for my flight to Dublin from Philadelphia, not that I would be able to see anything when looking out, as I was once again near the wing and that made it hard to see. Plus, it was an overnight flight, so the shade would be down for a majority of the time anyway. So without a view, I amused myself with in-flight movies, as I often do on long flights to Europe. Do you know how many movies you can fit in on a flight like that? Quite a few if you don't plan on sleeping. I did try after the second movie, but I always find it difficult to sleep on a plane, especially if you're in regular economy seats with a stranger seated next to you. Plus, I forgot my neck pillow, so any resemblance of comfort was out of the question. They had a lot of new releases available to watch, which is always great. You can watch movies that were barely just in theaters or still in theaters. The first movie was one that I had seen in theaters not too long ago, Deadpool. As soon as I saw it among the new releases, which was a long list of movies, I knew that had to be the one to watch first. I already did a review on Deadpool, so I'll just end this by saying, it was still enjoyable the second time around.

The second movie was one that I had not seen before. I did have plans to see it in theaters, it just never happened, which is often the case with me and movies in the theaters. It's so hard to catch them all. But I was immediately glad that I chose to watch this movie, it was actually really good and I enjoyed it a lot. I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's everything of a classic Jane Austen novel plus zombies! I have actually not read Jane Austen, but I've always thought about it and I do know quite a bit about Pride and Prejudice. Most of my knowledge comes from other movies and shows, that are either similar to Pride and Prejudice or reference it. The era within which she writes is appealing and it's tales such as this that leave me contemplating--am I a hopeless romantic for the classical love story? I don't believe I have actually seen the original Pride and Prejudice, at least not the whole thing. But yet I seem to gravitate towards versions of the tale: Bride and Prejudice, Austenland, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

The first movie is a Bollywood inspired take on the tale. Darcy is a brash American who falls for a pretty Indian daughter, who's mother wants her and her sisters to wed. The story mirrors Pride and Prejudice very neatly except they add in colorful Indian dance numbers and Bollywood music. I loved it, enough for multiple viewings. Austenland again follows the original Pride and Prejudice storyline but with a twist. An American obsessed with Jane Austen novels travels to England to visit Austenland, a resort for fans where they can basically cosplay as a Jane Austen characters. Our main character falls for who she believes is just an actor playing Mr. Darcy before things go awry, and she is nearly fooled by an actual actor. By the way, the main character is played by Keri Russell and Jane Seymour is in this as the owner of Austenland. I also loved this movie. So it is no surprise that I loved Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well. The funny thing is, I recently bought the original Pride and Prejudice on DVD. It was on sale at Walgreens. It's on my list of things to watch.

I have my first adventure in the form of waiting in a customs line and not needing to, upon my arrival at Dublin's airport. When I first checked in for my flight and checked my luggage, they were not able to tell me whether I would have to go through customs and re-check my luggage in Dublin. I figured it made sense, being the first stop into Europe, and a guy who had been sitting next to me on the fligt to Philadelphia had mentioned that I most likely would have to. He had overheard a conversation I was having with the older lady where I had mentioned not being sure if I would have to go through customs once I got to Dublin. So, thinking that was the case, I went right, when I should have gone left. I followed the crowd into the line for customs, instead of walking around in the direction of the connecting flights. I wind up waiting in line for a good 30 minutes, going through customs, out the exit, back upstairs to departures, through security, to finally make it to my gate. Now, luckily I had plenty of time for all of this and I had double checked with the customer service counter in the baggage claim area, before I left. They confirmed that my luggage had been checked all the way through to London and I did not have to worry. I was a little bit worried about whether I could trust that information and if I would see my bag when I arrived at Heathrow, but making it to my gate with plenty of time before boarding helped to calm me for the most part. So that was interesting, but now I know what to do for any future layovers in Dublin.

Once I arrived at Heathrow, I grabbed my suitcase with great relief and worked my way to the exit where I would meet up with two of my friends who had also flown in, both from Canada. We then hopped on the express train from Heathrow to Paddington Station in London. From there it was a taxi ride to Euston Station where we met up with two more friends prior to our final train ride from London to Birmingham. This was the location for the Supernatural convention in the UK, Asylum, and also where we met up with the last of our group, before walking to our                                             hotel for the night.

After checking into the hotel, we experience another adventure and I get to volunteer as tribute. No, not for a teenage battle royal, but for being the one to sleep on the bunk bed. Yes, a bunk bed. The hotel room had a very interesting sleeping arrangement, a bunk bed over top a regular bed. I was sharing the room with two friends and immediately volunteered to sleep up top on the bunk with the tiny ladder and small opening on the end to climb through. My friends were happy they could share the regular bed. I was actually excited too. Any reason to make up for a bunk-less childhood. Although I'm quite familiar with the bunk situation as an adult, just in a far less fun environment, so it was no big deal for me. After all the travel, I laid down and slept like a log. The other half of our group were sharing a similar room and eventually opted to get another room with a single bed instead of the bunk. In the morning, we checked out and walked with our suitcases to the con hotel to check in and prepare for the three day convention, Asylum 16--a Supernatural(tv show) convention. But more of that in the follow up post.

The Monday after the con, we packed up and got ready to check out. A couple of us went down to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant and the rest of us stayed in one of the rooms eating oatmeal and whatever other snacks were available. Then it was off to the Birmingham train station to make the journey back to London. From there we said goodbye to our friend Matt, who was headed off to visit family. The rest of us would go check into yet another hotel, and would be going to see Jason Manns in concert, at the Underbelly in London. But before that, we did a bit of sight seeing on the walk from the train station to the hotel. We stopped at King's Cross Station a famous train station in London, more recently made famous as the home of Platform 9&3/4 from Harry Potter. My friend Lisa and I got in line with the tourists so I could have my picture taken at the "platform", while our friend Lucy waited at the side to take pictures from there. You had the option to purchase a professional photo or to take as many photos with a personal camera or phone as you wanted. Guess which option we settled on? I have to say, I'm much happier with the photos from my phone, way more options than just one overpriced professional photo.

We finally arrive at our next hotel, the Travel Lodge near Covent Garden. Two of our group(Sandy and Jade) were at the original Travel Lodge and myself with Lisa and Lucy were at the sister location across the street. While Sandy and Jade rested up in their hotel room, we went down to the hotel bar and had a drink while we decided what to do next. We hadn't eaten and figured it would be good to do so prior to going to the concert. The three of us ventured out only to get caught in some London rain. It had been warm and sunny when we had first arrived in London and now when we were walking from the hotel to a nearby restaurant, it decided to rain. Of course, none of us had umbrellas, so we hid in an alley way trying to wait it out. When it didn't let up, we ran across the street with our jackets over our heads to the Chemist(Pharmacy) and bought umbrellas. We were then free to walk further down to the street  and found a restaurant called the Nag's Head. I had a delicious local lager, Camden Hells Lager, and my first English fish and chips which was delicious. This big piece of fresh tasting fish that was curled up on the ends, even the batter tasted great. We then walked back to the hotel, met up with the others to go to the concert.

I got to hail a British black cab for us to take to the concert venue, Underbelly, for the Jason Manns concert. We arrived at the venue with time to spare. We met some other friends there and sat chatting with them for a bit while we waited. When it came close to the time for the doors to open, we headed out and stood near the door with the other people, waiting to be let in for the meet and greet prior to the show. We grabbed a great table in the back right across from the stage with a good view. Next we ordered some beers from the bar and shortly thereafter, Jason Manns joined us as our table. It was our turn during his rounds of the bar. He asked us if we had all been to the convention(where he also played, as he's had involvement with the show and is a personal friend of several of the cast) and we said yes and also that we had all been to his show at the con as well. He also asked us what our highlights of the previous weekend were and we each took a turn answering. Lucy and Lisa both asked him some great questions as well, they were both seated closer, which was great and allowed us

to have a nice talk with him. He thanked us for being there and then moved on.

His friend Paul Carella was also there and would be performing as an opening act, but not before taking part in the meet and greet. He joined us at our table next. He is a Scottish singer who sounds like an American when he sings. He was really nice with a sexy accent. We chatted with him a bit as well and asked how he had met Jason. He told us the story and they actually met through a mutual friend, also a musician, before he was asked to tour with Jason and Rob Benedict(actor, singer) through Germany. Since then, he always plays with Jason whenever he's in the UK. Paul left us then to hit the last table before preparing for the show. A few Supernatural actors showed up to the show as well and sat in a sectioned off area to our right, first Ruth Connell(Rowena) with Emily Swallow(Amara) and a bit later Gil McKinney(Henry Winchester). I was standing at the bar for our next round of drinks and happened to be right next to Ruth. She commented on how large a glass of wine the bar tender was pouring for her, I said: The night is young. Paul finished his set not too long after that, the songs a combination of country, blues, and 60s rock. Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan were probably big influences, I imagine. Jason came up next and sang some covers and originals, even a couple songs with Gil McKinney. Gil has an amazing voice and has actually recorded a couple songs with Jason for an upcoming album funded by Kickstarter.

This was most definitely a way better venue for a show and the sound quality was tons better, so it was fortunate that I got to see Jason and Paul live in a venue such as that. At the end of the night, I hailed another cab, this time with video evidence of my cab hailing skills, We returned to the hotel for some much needed sleep, before a busy day of touring London.

Tuesday morning came and we woke up early, in order to fit in as much sight seeing as possible. We started by saying goodbye to our friend Lucy who had to go home to visit family, before eventually returning to Vancouver. After that we walked from our hotel to Trafalgar Square where we would catch the "Original Tour" bus, which we would be using for sightseeing all over London. Unfortunately, the weather was not perfect for being a tourist, although it was perfect London weather. Luckily, I had planned ahead with boots and a leather jacket, plus the umbrella from the day before. In Trafalgar Square, we started our process for picture taking: pictures with my phone, Lisa taking pictures of me with my phone and her camera, a selfie of the whole group. We climbed into the double decker tour bus and went directly upstairs, under the roof portion where it was dry with our on-the-bus tour guide Fred. A few blurry, rainy photos through a rain splattered window and several jokes from Fred later, we arrived at Buckingham Palace where we got off as our first stop and said goodbye to Fred.

More pictures happened, of the Queen Victoria Monument and the palace itself. I had my picture in front of both, as well as with the guards in the background. Back on the bus towards our next stop, we met our next in bus tour guide, again on the upper level. We didn't catch his name, but did find out that he was a  Supernatural fan and has watched the show since the beginning. We also learned from him that the Queen was actually at the palace that day for official business, which was cool to find out. While on the bus, we passed by MI5 and MI6 which most people would know from James Bond. But, he did tell a story about a young American girl who asked if the MI in MI5 stood for Mission Impossible instead of Military Intelligence. I apologized for my country and made him laugh. He next explained that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the tower instead of the tower itself. Another cool fact that we learned from our Supernatural fan tour guide, as we drove past Buckingham Palace, was that the royal guards have uniforms worth over 40k pounds. Their hats are made from Canadian bear skin which are now nearly irreplaceable since it is now illegal to kill Canadian bears for their skins. So on a day like today, when it was raining, they would normally cancel the changing of the guard. This is a huge ceremonious event that draws crowds to watch it. But the rain can ruin the uniforms and hats, so its better to cancel, since otherwise replacing a hat would involve waiting for a bear to die of natural causes, but hopefully they still try to avoid that as well. Pieces of the uniforms are hundreds of years old, because they try very hard to keep them in pristine condition.

This was where we said goodbye to our fellow Supernatural fan and did the tourist-y thing around the houses of Parliament and Big Ben's Tower. We grabbed something to eat at McDonald's for lunch, then caught the cruise boat for the Thames river cruise, which was included with our unlimited bus access. The river cruise was short but the boat snaked its way along further down river and let us out at the Tower of London. We departed the boat and I suddenly realized a misconception that I have had for quite some time about the Tower of London. The prison is located in a castle instead of in one of the towers of the bridge. Also, that the fancy bridge is called the Tower Bridge and the London Bridge is actually quite bland looking, much like the smaller one we have in Lake Havasu, Arizona. The Tower of London was once actually a way to enter London from the river and the King created a special gate to gain access the prison, which was only a small portion of the Tower of London.

Next stop after the Tower of London, was Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Being a fan of Shakespeare, I was excited to see where it all began. It's amazing how they have managed to rebuild it, twice, and keep it true to the original design. The first time, it was torn down by a king who had outlawed fun during a civil war. The second time, it burned. We made a brief stop at the Millennium Bridge close by, predominantly featured in Harry Potter, in a scene where Harry and other are attached in London by Death Eaters. We then made our way back to the bus stop and hopped on for a long bus ride back to Trafalgar Square. Along the way we passed by Baker Street and a statue of Sherlock Holmes. We also passed by the original Madame Tussauds' museum.

From Trafalgar Square, we headed in the direction of the Sherlock Holmes Pub and Restaurant, finally with no rain. I had sausages and mash with a Sherlock Holmes Ale, only brewed for the pub, both were very tasty. The decor was fantastic as well, all over the dining rooms, there was even a separate room completely done up like Sherlock's living room at 221B Baker Street. It was really cool.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a detour to the Covent Garden Market. We wandered through the shops and took our last sight seeing selfie with the whole group. We said goodbye to our friend Jade who was headed home and then there were just three. Lisa would leave us in the morning to go back to work and I would travel with Sandy to Cardiff. The plan was to go to the Doctor Who Experience. The rest of the evening was spent in the hotel room, relaxing after the long day out and about.
Then there were two. Sandy and I checked out of our hotel and took a taxi back to Paddington station. It was hard to believe we had all arrived there nearly a week ago to start our Birmingham/London adventure, and now it was nearly at it's end. We boarded the train bound for Swansea, stopping along the way at Cardiff Central. One thing I should mention about the train ride to Cardiff however, we passed through a really long tunnel half of which was under a river. What is the significance of that? The 4 mile long tunnel, half under the river, marks the border between England and Wales. So when we popped out the other side there was a sign welcoming us to Wales. Upon arrival in Cardiff, we waited for Sandy's husband who was picking up her suitcase. Rainy weather warranted a cab ride to the bay where the Doctor Who Experience is located. Once we got to the DW Experience, we had a bit of time to kill before the tour started. We sat in the cafeteria eating sandwiches and drinking coffee and soda, then got in the queue to wait for our group to be let in. For the first 30 minutes, you are not allowed to take photos or videos. I can understand why, you are effectively in your own mini episode of Doctor Who. They don't want you ruining the surprise for future guests. You have to help save the Doctor and...the universe, naturally. I'm not going to give anything away, but it was amazing and so much fun! I highly recommend it!

The funny thing about cities by the ocean, they get rain, a lot of it. It was raining cats and dogs when we left the DW Experience. Luckily, we caught the next bus bound for the city center shortly after stepping out into the rain. The next stop would be Cardiff Castle, which both Sandy and her husband had recommended I see while there. To avoid the rain, we walked through a huge mall, effectively crossing the city from where the bus had let us out to where the castle was located. Now I should probably note, I had been lugging around my suitcase the entire time. At the DW Experience, I was able to store it in the cloak room(coat room for American readers). At the castle there was a little storage house near the guard house at the gate and I was able to leave my suitcase there. Good thing too, it would have been hard to carry it up and down all the stairs.

We wandered through the wartime museum, featuring Welsh War History through the ages. But also a piece of American history as well. A very old piece of colors from an American Battalion hangs on a wall, captured long ago at the battle of Fort Detroit in 1812. The US Military has asked for it back and when that was a no, they asked to borrow it. The Curator of the Cardiff Castle told them he'd sooner take it outside and set it in fire then do that, since he knew he would never get it back if he did. This was a joke of course, but apparently no one from Wisconsin laughs at it, which is odd considering the flag is from Michigan. The museum guide explained, a Californian tourist had told him that a people who called themselves cheeseheads and not as a joke probably don't have a sense of humor. The guide has gotten laughs out of tourists from Washington, California and now Arizona, but never those of Wisconsin. I've never been to Wisconsin so I'm not sure if that's true.

From there we went into the air raid shelter of the castle that runs along the old wall. They have installed a sound system that goes off when you enter, with a message from the late 1930's. The message signaled the beginning of WWII between the British and Germans. As you continue down the tunnel, the walls are decorated with signs and war advertisements from the era. Then half-way through the air raid sirens go off and the sounds of bombs dropping overhead. It's creepy to hear while walking through the dark tunnels, with intermittent lighting. But, it was also a really cool experience,

Next I went to the Castle Keep, climbed some treacherously wet, steep steps and took photos from up high. Even one of my friend Sandy who was waiting for me down below. I didn't go all the way to the top, as it started to rain hard again and I really wanted to avoid falling down slippery steps in the pouring rain. So ended my visit to Cardiff Castle, with a taxi ride back to the train station. I had a coffee with Sandy while we waited for my train, then said our goodbyes. I headed back to London for my last night in the UK and she went home. After a week surrounded by friends, it felt lonely on the train to Paddington. From Paddington the plan was to catch the Heathrow Express to Heathrow Airport and from there take a taxi to my hotel close by, to spend a nice relaxing evening in before flying home.

My hotel was actually not a hotel but a house that I had booked a room in. It was a little hard for the cabi to find at first but it all worked out in the end. I chatted with my friends on the free wifi(finally!) and let them know I had arrived safely at the last "hotel". I messaged my mom my arrival time so she would know when to pick me up from the airport after my non-stop flight. I was actually pretty glad that it was a non-stop flight, it would be a shorter travel time and I would be dealing with customs in Phoenix without needing to collect my luggage before hand.

In the morning, I walked from the house to the nearby Radisson Hotel where I had read about an airport shuttle. Sure enough, the shuttle arrived and five pounds and a quick circuit of the rest of the hotels later, I was back at Heathrow airport. I check in, got my boarding pass and waited for my gate to be assigned. While I waited, I tried to spend my remaining British Pounds and bought a sandwich, bottle of water and some postcards. I still wound up with change left over which I brought back with me. Once I got to my gate, I checked in with my friends one last time using the airport wifi, then it was back to Phoenix.

So ended my UK Adventure. Part of me wasn't ready to go yet and part of me was. Isn't that always the case when traveling though? You fall in love with a new and exciting place and want to explore more of it immediately. But then you also miss the comforts of home that a hotel and living out of a suitcase just don't provide. At least, that's how it is for me. I love traveling and wish I could do more of it, but there is a certain sense of comfort that can only be achieved when surrounded by the things you know well. However, should you ever find yourself in London, do yourself a favor and buy a ticket for the Original London Tour. Take time to let yourself discover the city, you'll never know what you may learn.

April Showers of Busy

It seems as though I blinked and April disappeared. Where did an entire month go? I had so much time before I would have to start preparing for my vacation at the beginning of May. But now, as I write this, I have just 9 days to go until I fly out and only one weekend to get everything done in. If I'm honest, and I usually am, I am not getting much done in the form of vacation preparation during the week. Between work and other things, including laziness(which I like to think of as relaxation), I will be keeping myself too busy to worry about packing until the weekend. This of course isn't necessarily a bad thing, the weekend affords much more free time.

Clearly, April has been a busy month. Regular work kicked into overdrive, I also had my volunteer work for Phoenix Comicon and there was podcasting. Two of things were enjoyable, one not so much. I'll let you take a guess at which one. So it's really no surprise that April seems to have blown by and May is rapidly approaching.

Not that I'm complaining. After all, I did mention that I have a vacation coming up. The sooner I can get to that vacation the better. It's been in the works for almost a year now and I can hardly wait. I'll only be gone for just over a week, but I will be fulfilling a long time dream. I'm going to the UK. That's right, The United Kingdom. Home of Queen Elizabeth, tea and biscuits, and William Shakespeare. Sadly, I will not be able to branch out much during the trip, aside from visiting foggy London town and a quick day trip to Wales. The rest of the days spent visiting with friends and attending a convention in Birmingham. I would love to visit Scotland and traverse the gorgeous highlands, but that will have to wait for another trip, a longer trip. I'll hop all around England, Scotland, Wales, maybe even Ireland, that would be a fantastic trip. Although, I will be flying through Dublin with a layover on both legs of my journey. So at the end of this, I can at least say I will have been to Ireland, if only for a few hours in it's international airport.

Now, some might say, that's a pretty penny to spend for just a week in a European country with not much to show for it. But I think otherwise. I'll be meeting friends, who I've spent a couple years waiting to meet. I'll be going on a bus/river tour of London. I'll be going to the Doctor Who Experience in Wales. I'll be bringing back amazing memories and tons of photos. That alone is worth every penny. Then you throw in the fact that I'll get to travel, which I love doing. I don't always like getting stuck at airports and trying to stave off boredom, but the sense of adventure, of going somewhere new, that's something you can't put a price on.

You only have one life to live, and if you spend it working yourself to death trying to have a means of retirement but you miss out on all the world has to offer. What good is a life's savings if you forget to live? I've lost family members who barely made it into retirement, and never got to enjoy it. I work hard, I may have debt and bills to pay like everyone else, but I'm not going to wait to enjoy life until it's too late. I will plan a trip each year and visit amazing places. Last year, I discovered Vancouver, this year England. What's next? Who knows? But that's the great thing, there is literally a whole world out there. Don't wait and regret, go enjoy it. Also, I'm thinking Hawaii sounds pretty good for next year. Hit the tropical island while I'm still here close to the west coast, save a bit on flight costs. Sounds like a good plan...

Anyway, enough day dreaming, I seem to have lost the point of this post. April, the month nearly gone. I'm thinking not much will change with May. I'll get back, work like crazy again. I'll try not to melt in the oven called the Phoenix Valley. Throw myself full steam into preparations for Comicon at the beginning of June. But with the summer, comes swimming and maybe some more weekend trips up North to escape the heat. All my TV shows will be on break, leaving me time to catch up on reading, writing, see what else podcasting has in store for me. Needless to say, I'm certainly looking forward to what the future and the summer of 2016 will bring...and it all starts with an English adventure.

**UPDATE**Oh the Podcasting I Have Done...Recent Podcast Appearances

**UPDATE**

Shortly after posting this, I realized I had forgotten one podcast appearance. Yes, I was very popular in the last several weeks.

The guest spot that I failed to include, was my appearance on the Book vs Movie podcast with Margo D. We discussed Stephen King's The Shining and compared the book to both the 1980 Jack Nicholson movie and the 1997 TV movie with Steven Weber. I had a lot of fun and learned quite a few interesting facts about the movie that I didn't know. I also found out how very different the book is in certain aspects. I'd never read the book and I am certainly even more interested to do so now. I had no idea that Stephen King wrote a sequel to the story either! They are now in the process of adapting it to film as well. So please go check out Margo and Margo(yes, they are both named Margo) at the Book vs Movie podcast and give my episode and their show a listen!

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I thought it might be interesting to share some of the new podcasting things I've been involved in recently. A couple have already "aired" and are available to be listened to now. The others will be premiering soon. So here's a break down of all.

I was asked to be a part of my friend Roy McMillan's new podcast, Geek Up and Go. I met Roy through listening to his other podcast, Moving the Needle, which he does with my co-host of Gotham Lights, Henno and a few others. Roy reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in discussing Marvel's Jessica Jones, the Netflix series which premiered late last year. I definitely enjoyed the show and was happy to participate. Roy also asked another familiar podcaster in our circle, Clint from the Geek Dig podcast, to join in. It made for a great dynamic. Unlike Roy and I who had watched the series once before and were now re-watching it, Clint was watching it all for the first time, a virgin to the series. Now, Jessica Jones is not the only venture of Roy's I am involved in. Geek Up and Go will have a variety of topics and it's aim is to discuss things that Roy is interested in and finding others who share his passion for the same topic. The second topic I am participating with is Lip Sync Battle. We have a larger group which discusses the TV show about celebrities who battle each other to be named the lip sync champion. These are two that haven't premiered yet, but I have been told they will soon,

Another friend, Dave Maier, has a few podcasts going on currently and I was fortunate to be involved with two of them. The first is Chronicles Unwritten. This is a choose your own adventure story based podcast. Dave writes the story and at the end of almost every chapter, he writes a choice. The listeners then choose how they want the story to go from there. In this story, I voice the character of Nefa or Nefaria as was recently revealed. There is not much known yet about this mysterious woman, but one of the main characters, Sophia, stumbled across her in the forest after escaping from a dragon. The current story is very much a fantasy story but there will be other genres of stories in the future. So if fantasy isn't your thing, check back in later for a crime noir. Aside from me there are others lending their voices to this podcast as well. Tristan Boyle from the Anarchaeologist podcast is the narrator of the story which includes voicing the two main characters, Elias and Sophia. Tristan is an Irishman living in Scotland, his voice was made for narrating. Then there is Matt McDonough who does an equally amazing job at voicing the character of Mordagon. Dave has added his voice to the show as well and there will be other guest voices appearing soon. I'm still not convinced my voice acting is that great, but it's certainly a lot of fun. This one you can go out and find right now to listen to. Or at least the first six chapters and chapter seven is being worked on now.

Next we have Dave's other show which he co-hosts with his father Paul, Diamond Minds. I've been listening to Diamond Minds since it first started. At that time, I had not talked much with either Dave or Paul but I had heard them both on the Stranger Conversations with Grant Markham. I was interested to hear more about their lives and was intrigued by a father/son podcast. So I subscribed to their podcast and have been listening ever since. A few weeks ago(March 14th), I was invited to be on along with fellow blogger and friend Agent Palmer and another Maier, Chris(Dave's cousin). We discussed a variety of topics including politics and superhero movies. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed chatting with them all, even about the politics, which really isn't my sort of thing. But superhero movies, now that's something I could talk about for hours. So while you're checking out Dave's other show, be sure to check out this one too.

Last but certainly not least, I was asked to be on the Passers By Podcast, hosted by Matt McDonough. Yes, the same one that voices Mordagon from Chronicles Unwritten. Funny how that worked out. Passers By Podcast is about people sharing a story and answering some questions. The story can be about anything at any point in their life and the questions are fairly simple. I wasn't sure what story I was going to share, but because of a recent conversation I had, one quickly made itself available. But I'm not going to spoil, you can find out all about it on April 11th, when the episode becomes available.

So that's really about it. Go check out these great podcasts. You can find them all by searching iTunes and Stitcher now or I will try to post links on social media as the episodes become available.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of...HOLY *BLEEP* WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!

Haters gonna hate, I'm gonna love. What do you have to say now Batfleck disbelievers? But I'll get to that in a bit.

I've always been one to hold true to the theory of forming one's own opinion on something rather than believing everything you hear, from a critic or otherwise. Much like everyone, I'd heard the rumors. The preliminary critiques coming through regarding DC's newest superhero movie. Critics were not pleased with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Did they enjoy it? Were these critics fans of the genre? I didn't bother looking into any of the critiques about the movie, even if I don't always listen to critics, I still didn't want my viewing of the movie to be influenced in the slightest.

I went into BvS:DoJ with even hopes for a decent movie that I would enjoy. It did not disappoint, in fact, it went beyond that. I don't recall having similar reactions to the Nolan movies, which I liked a great deal. I had so many different emotions in this one movie, rather than spread out between three. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins at a few occasions especially after the moment I nearly jumped out of my seat. I wasn't alone, the couple seated next to me jumped as well. We shared quiet embarrassed laughter. But the scene had been completely unexpected--it served the shock it was meant to. The very same scene inspired the title to this post.

I prefer to be spoiler free with my reviews, especially still being within the time frame of opening weekend. But there are a few things I want to cover, which hopefully won't ruin the movie too much. I'll try to be brief.

If you know even the basic things about Batman, you know that he was orphaned as a child when his parents were murdered in front of him. Numerous versions of this particular factoid in the Batman mythos have been presented to fans of the dark knight--be it in movies, animations, or comics. Not being a Batman origin story, I didn't think we would see as much of young Bruce Wayne in this film as we did. At first I thought, oh here we go again...the ol' Wayne murder and little Bruce-y falling down a well scenario. But while the scenes may have started out very similar to past movies, they were also quite unique unto themselves. I was reminded of the fact that Jeffrey Dean Morgan(Supernatural, Watchman) was cast as Thomas Wayne and Lauren Cohan(The Walking Dead, The Boy) as his wife Martha.

The pearl necklace that Martha wore on that fateful evening, has been a focus of movies and TV shows past and present. But this movie took the breaking of said necklace down a different path. A well used zoom takes a scene with a gun and a necklace and makes it different. The same can be said for the scene of young Bruce Wayne running away from the funeral procession and stumbling across the cave. He runs through the forest and falls through a hole as the ground gives way beneath him. He drops into a cave and sees bats, sparking the idea of Batman in little Bruce-y's brain. But there is where the similarity ended. At first I thought to myself, really this again? I nearly frowned until the bats flew forth, surrounded Bruce and did a surprising thing.

It was things like that which made this movie great for me. Along with the subtle humor when needed and the holy crap hand over mouth shockers you didn't know you needed. I laughed, I was startled, I was shocked and in awe.

It was the cast that fit into their roles with ease. Well done, Ben Affleck. You're a terrible husband, but you make an excellent Bruce Wayne/Batman. He was believable as the caped crusader and convince-able with how in shape he was. Those "workout" scenes, yowzah! An expected great performance by Jeremy Irons(Lion King, Die Hard With A Vengeance) as Alfred and equally impressive performances by Jesse Eisenberg(Zombieland, The Social Network) and Gal Gadot(Fast & Furious Franchise, Date Night)--Lex Luther and Wonder Woman. The cast did not disappoint. How could they with Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, and Lawrence Fishburne reprising their roles from Man of Steel. There was even a cameo by Neil Degrasse Tyson!

Top Row: Holly Hunter, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Zack Snyder
Middle: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Lawrence Fishburne
Front: Henry Cavill

Then of course there was the actual story line of the movie. I've heard from sources that the movie is not entirely beholden to the comics, just based on them. But that did not deter me. I've not read a lot of Superman or Batman comics, so I was not able to compare and contrast so easily as some. Regardless, the story had a good pace and there was always something to pay attention to--even during the scenes when there was no fighting. The musical score was fantastic and gripping, not surprising when you consider the composer, Hans Zimmer(The Dark Knight, Inception). The music brought out the emotion in the scenes and heightened the tension. As a good score should.

Overall, I have very little complaints about this film. It wasn't flawless but it was a top notch superhero movie. I enjoyed it a lot and most certainly plan to add this one to my collection.

Whether you are a Superman fan, a Batman fan, or just looking for an exciting movie to watch. I recommend this one.

Wham! A Deadpool Review

What better way to spend Valentine's Day than at the movies? Under normal circumstances, this would be a dateless Valentine's Day, as per tradition. But this time, I had Mr. Pool...Deadpool. He was thoroughly enjoyable. The best Marvel movie to come out in a while.

Not surprisingly, the movie is already making headlines. The highest grossing rated "R" movie of
all time in it's opening weekend. Well deserved and well earned. I know there was concern with some about the movie not living up to it's brilliant advertising. I can say it not only lived up to the advertising and hype, but surpassed it by more than 83 confirmed kills--it exceeded my expectations.

I've been a fan of Ryan Reynolds for some time, since back in his Blade Trinity days. There could not have been a better choice for the "Merc with the Mouth". Plus, this gave Reynolds the opportunity to take another shot at the character of Wade Wilson and build upon it. Build he did...and shoot and stab and maim and kill...and repeat.


I also have to applaud Morena Baccarin on her performance as Vanessa, "crazy" good. This might just be my new favorite role for her, since Firely. I definitely liked this

character much more than the character of Dr. Leslie Tompkins in Gotham. She's a good actress and I've liked a lot of what she's been in. I imagine it comes down to writing and the freedom the character(and actress) is allowed to have. A freedom that is much easier to get in a rated "R" movie than a TV show on Fox(or other network TV channels for that matter.)

I've already decided that I will be seeing this movie again, in theaters, maybe even in 3-D next time. While it was easy to follow the story and Deadpool's antics, I did get the sense that I missed things here and there. Nothing major, a line was spoken too fast...there were so many moving pieces to that freeway scene I had to have missed something...references(there were soooo many). Although, even if I didn't feel like I'd missed things, I would still go see it again. It is that great.

I am not going to give away any spoilers but it would be an incomplete review without at least touching on the humor in this movie. Deadpool(aka Wade Wilson) as a character is known for being sarcastic, un-filtered, a wise ass, mentally unstable and...well, a deadly bad ass. He is an anti-hero who breaks the fourth wall, completely aware he is a comic book character. This breaking of the fourth wall is what led to many funny scenes in the movie, often involving speaking directly to the "audience". The dialog was also excellent and the way in which Reynolds delivered the lines, made the jokes and references all the better. I don't think I've laughed as much during any other Marvel movie, as I did with this one.

Often with movies, a soundtrack can be just as important as the story and the acting or the special effects. Similar to the greatness that was the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, this soundtrack too was amazing. You could not have songs that were more different, go so well together in a movie. They're catchy and I love them all. So much so, I bought the soundtrack off iTunes when I returned home from the theater. Wade had me at Wham. One of his prized possessions is the Make It Big album, Wham's second album known for the hits: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, Careless Whisper. Spoiler for me: Careless Whisper is my favorite Wham song.

So, if you haven't gone to see this film yet, do so. Immediately. I cannot recommend it more.

Deadpool wants YOU, to go see this movie.

The Weather Predicting Marmot

Every year on February 2nd, the United States celebrates a tradition dating back to the late 1880s--Groundhog's Day. On this day, the inhabitants of Punxsutawney, PA gather in masses at Gobbler's Knob (in the chilly hours of the morning) to observe a creature in it's mostly natural habitat. The rodent-like marmot (or woodchuck if you prefer), nicknamed Punxsutawney Phil, has been given the honor of predicting the weather. No other animal but the groundhog could ever hope to be bestowed with such an honor. Afterall, a groundhog is a most intelligent and sensible animal. At least that's what the early Pennsylvanian settlers believed.

How can a small ground-dwelling animal predict the weather? Simple. He either is or isn't able to see his shadow. If he pops up out of his hole on a bright day, his shadow scares him back into his burrow--there will be six more weeks of winter. Clearly, the shadow was a bad omen and the groundhog was sensible enough to know he had no business being out and about. But if he arose to find a cloudy, dreary day, with no shadow in sight--there would be an early spring. Such intelligence from our little furry friend!

In a never wavering fashion, the good people of Punxsutawney held strong to tradition this past Tuesday. P. Phil shimmied out of his hole and declared, "There is no shadow to be cast! An early spring is my forecast!" Well, a human MC spoke these words to the crowd. A ground hog does not have the ability for human speech, regardless of their intelligent and sensible nature. So this year we are in for an early spring. This did not however have the Punxsutawnians throwing off their jackets last week, the temperature that day was said to have been 22 degrees.

But this wasn't the case everywhere, as evidenced by a heatwave, at least here in the valley of the sun. Summer has broken out with temperatures in the mid-80s during the day and in the mid 50s at night. This is of course not uncommon for Phoenix at this time of year.

No one is quite sure where the tradition comes from that inspired Groundhog's Day. But most can settle on it's European origins. The English, Scottish, and even Germans all celebrated a similar tradition called Candlemas Day that centered around six more weeks of winter if the weather that day was clear and bright. The opposite (an early spring) if the day was dark and dreary. The Germans even used an animal, usually a hedgehog, to help them with their prediction by way of it's shadow. So when the first settlers(Germans) arrived in Pennsylvania, they brought their Candlemas Day tradition with them. Unfortunately, they didn't bring any hedgehogs(poor little guys must have been prone to sea sickness) and were forced to find the next best thing: a groundhog.

So began the American tradition, with a twist. But, once the groundhog makes his prediction, what next? Well, it's time to check and see if he was actually right. In the two months following Phil's(or Chuck, if you're in the New York area) prediction, the temperature is measured each day. If there are more days with 40 degrees or higher, the prediction of an early spring is confirmed. If there are more days under 40 degrees, then the early spring is disproved. So far, Staten Island's Chuck(also known as Charles G. Hogg) has proven to be far more accurate in his predictions than ol' Punxsutawney Phil. 80% percent accuracy for Chuck vs 40% for Phil, if internet sources can be believed(Stormfax Weather Almanac).

This year, both Staten Island Chuck and Punxsutawney Phil have predicted an early spring. I guess we'll have to wait and see who's stats get boosted with that prediction, in a couple months' time.